No Sew (Adjustbale) Tutus!

Tutus... aren't they just the perfect item for any little girl's wardrobe? Perfect for photos, and playing dress up, even for wearing just to cheer yourself up? hehe You just have to smile when wearing one... or maybe that's just me - I can't help but smile when either of my girls is wearing their tutu :) It's just too cute!

Anyway, so I've mentioned all the snow we got here... I really wanted to dress the girls up in something cute and take them out for a fun photo shoot in the snow. I thought that a bright tutu would be the perfect accessory to their winter coats and hats. Right?

The only problem was that we only had one tutu and two kids. So, of course... I made one! I think my husband thought I was a little nutty - but he often does, so who cares?

And so is born this little tutorial for making a super simple tutu... for girls of all sizes! It can even be made so that it's adjustable - to grow with your little one... how's that for awesome?

I'll say this now... please forgive me for the awful photos. I was in a rush and just grabbed my little camera... I think you'll get the idea though.

Supplies Needed:

• elastic - a few inches longer than your little ones waist (mine was 1.4 inch width - but pretty much any width will do)
• tulle - I used 3 spools that had 15 feet of tulle each, you will need more or less depending on how big around your child is, how long you want the skirt to be, and how full you want it to be
• scissors
• a large book, bowl, cardboard piece, frame, box, etc to use to hold your elastic in place temporarily

 Start by measuring the waist of your child, then cutting your elastic about 1.5 -  2 inches longer than that measurement.  The extra length will give you room to adjust the waistband when your child grows.

Tie the ends of the elastic together a little smaller than the child's actual waist measurement.  This will make sure that the waistband fits snugly enough to not fall off, but not too tight.

Now, cut your tulle.  If you are using a spool of tulle (haha... say that 3 times fast! ;)), then roll out the pieces and cut.  The length of the strip should be twice the length that you want your actual skirt to be.  Mine was cut to approximately 22 inches.  Keep doing this until you have cut all of your strips.

I cut one spool at a time because I didn't know how many spools it would take to get my desired effect.  I recommend doing it this way to avoid cutting too much.

Now, find a book, piece of cardboard, frame, whatever you can find that you can stretch your elastic waistband around.  This will be helpful to hold everything in place when tying the tulle to the elastic.

Start by taking a strip of tulle and folding it over in half, then making a slip knot over your elastic.  You could also just knot it on there I guess, but the slip knot looks neater and is probably a little more comfortable on that little waist. You can even do multiple layers of tulle at once - this will make it more full of a skirt.

Keep doing this all the way around your elastic until it is as full as you'd like!

If the length of your skirt is too long or the lengths of your strips aren't even (and you want them to be even) then you can always just trim the bottom until its at your desired length.  There is no shame in letting it be different lengths either though... it's kind of fun that way.

Ta-Da!  Try the tutu on your child and watch as she has lots of fun playing in it and feeling beautiful!

Or head out in the snow for a fun photo shoot like I did!  Here are a few photos I took...

And this one (the tutu), I didn't make... but I couldn't leave my littlest cutie out of the photos!